Russell Westbrook is reportedly leaving the Los Angeles Clippers after one-and-a-half seasons with the team.
Westbrook was traded to the Utah Jazz after picking up his $4 million player option for the 2024-25 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowksi. Utah will also receive a second-round pick swap in the deal, while the Clippers will land veteran guard Kris Dunn.
Per Wojnarowski, Westbrook is expected to agree to a contract buyout with the Jazz and ultimately wind up with the Denver Nuggets.
Wojnarowski added that the Clippers are also sending the draft rights to Balsa Koprivica, the right to swap 2030 second-round picks with Utah and $4.3 million in the Westbrook-Dunn sign-and-trade deal.
Chris Haynes of TNT Sports reported Dunn will sign a three-year, $17 million contract with the Clippers.
Wojnarowski previously reported June 29 that Westbrook had picked up his player option to return to the Clippers.
However, The Athletic’s Law Murray said the same day that it remained “undetermined” whether Westbrook would be on the Clippers’ 2024-25 roster.
By July 5, the Clippers were “openly exploring their trade options with Westbrook,” according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
Westbrook averaged 11.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists mostly as the Clippers’ sixth man in 2023-24.
The 2017 MVP shot 45.4 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from three during the regular season, his lowest success rate from behind the arc as a Clipper.
Westbrook’s three-point shooting fell off further as he contributed 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds through six playoff games before the Clippers were eliminated from the first round by the Dallas Mavericks.
The Clippers re-signed James Harden and also signed Kris Dunn and Kevin Porter Jr., effectively pushing Westbrook out of the team’s depth chart.
The veteran guard signed with the Clippers following his trade from the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2023. He will depart from the Clippers having averaged 12.2 points and 5.0 rebounds through 89 regular-season games and 32 starts.
Westbrook isn’t the scorer he once was with the Oklahoma City Thunder (leading the league with 31.6 points per game in 2016-17), but he will provide veteran ball-handling off the bench as the team hopes for his shooting to bounce back during his age-36 season.
A ball-dominant player like Westbrook might not be a good fit on the court with Nikola Jokić, but Jokić may want Westbrook as an option to lead the Nuggets in transition while the team’s star center is on the bench. According to DNVR Sports’ Harrison Wind, Jokić had “pushed behind the scenes” for the Nuggets to acquire Westbrook.
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